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From: David Gibson <david@gibson.dropbear.id.au>
To: passt-dev@passt.top, Stefano Brivio <sbrivio@redhat.com>
Cc: David Gibson <david@gibson.dropbear.id.au>
Subject: [PATCH v2 15/23] doc: Rework man page description of port specifiers
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:03:01 +1000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260410010309.736855-16-david@gibson.dropbear.id.au> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260410010309.736855-1-david@gibson.dropbear.id.au>

Currently the man page describes the internal syntax of port specifiers
in prose, which isn't particularly easy to follow.  Rework it to use
more syntax "diagrams" to show how it works.  This will also allow us to
more easily update the manual page for some coming changes in syntax.

usage() output is updated similarly, though more briefly.

Signed-off-by: David Gibson <david@gibson.dropbear.id.au>
---
 conf.c  | 10 +++++-----
 passt.1 | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++----------
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/conf.c b/conf.c
index c3655824..5d6517c3 100644
--- a/conf.c
+++ b/conf.c
@@ -1041,11 +1041,11 @@ static void usage(const char *name, FILE *f, int status)
 		"      'none': don't forward any ports\n"
 		"      'all': forward all unbound, non-ephemeral ports\n"
 		"%s"
-		"      a comma-separated list, optionally ranged with '-'\n"
-		"        and optional target ports after ':', with optional\n"
-		"        address specification suffixed by '/' and optional\n"
-		"        interface prefixed by '%%'. Ranges can be reduced by\n"
-		"        excluding ports or ranges prefixed by '~'\n"
+		"      [ADDR[%%IFACE]/]PORTS: forward specific ports\n"
+		"        PORTS is a comma-separated list of ports, optionally\n"
+		"        ranged with '-' and optional target ports after ':'.\n"
+		"        Ranges can be reduced by excluding ports or ranges\n"
+		"        prefixed by '~'\n"
 		"        Examples:\n"
 		"        -t 22		Forward local port 22 to 22 on %s\n"
 		"        -t 22:23	Forward local port 22 to 23 on %s\n"
diff --git a/passt.1 b/passt.1
index 7da4fe5f..d329f8f0 100644
--- a/passt.1
+++ b/passt.1
@@ -447,16 +447,28 @@ periodically derived (every second) from listening sockets reported by
 \fI/proc/net/tcp\fR and \fI/proc/net/tcp6\fR, see \fBproc\fR(5).
 
 .TP
-.BR ports
-A comma-separated list of ports, optionally ranged with \fI-\fR, and,
-optionally, with target ports after \fI:\fR, if they differ. Specific addresses
-can be bound as well, separated by \fI/\fR, and also, since Linux 5.7, limited
-to specific interfaces, prefixed by \fI%\fR. Within given ranges, selected ports
-and ranges can be excluded by an additional specification prefixed by \fI~\fR.
-
-Specifying excluded ranges only implies that all other ports are forwarded. In
-this case, no failures are reported for unavailable ports, unless no ports could
-be forwarded at all.
+[\fIaddress\fR[\fB%\fR\fIinterface\fR]\fB/\fR]\fIports\fR ...
+Specific ports to forward.  Optionally, a specific listening address
+and interface name (since Linux 5.7) can be specified.  \fIports\fR is
+a comma-separated list of entries which may be any of:
+.RS
+.TP
+\fIfirst\fR[\fB-\fR\fIlast\fR][\fB:\fR\fItofirst\fR[\fB-\fR\fItolast\fR]]
+Include range. Forward port numbers between \fIfirst\fR and \fIlast\fR
+(inclusive) to ports between \fItofirst\fR and \fItolast\fR.  If
+\fItofirst\fR and \fItolast\fR are omitted, assume the same as
+\fIfirst\fR and \fIlast\fR.  If \fIlast\fR is omitted, assume the same
+as \fIfirst\fR.
+
+.TP
+\fB~\fR\fIfirst\fR[\fB-\fR\fIlast\fR]
+Exclude range.  Exclude port numbers between \fIfirst\fR and
+\fIlast\fR from.  This takes precedences over include ranges.
+.RE
+
+Specifying excluded ranges only implies that all other non-ephemeral
+ports are forwarded. In this case, no failures are reported for
+unavailable ports, unless no ports could be forwarded at all.
 
 Examples:
 .RS
-- 
2.53.0


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-04-10  1:03 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 24+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-04-10  1:02 [PATCH v2 00/23] Rework forwarding option parsing David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 01/23] conf: Split parsing of port specifiers from the rest of -[tuTU] parsing David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 02/23] conf: Simplify handling of default forwarding mode David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 03/23] conf: Move first pass handling of -[TU] next to handling of -[tu] David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 04/23] doc: Consolidate -[tu] option descriptions for passt and pasta David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 05/23] conf: Permit -[tTuU] all in pasta mode David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 06/23] fwd: Better split forwarding rule specification from associated sockets David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 07/23] fwd_rule: Move forwarding rule formatting David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 08/23] conf: Pass protocol explicitly to conf_ports_range_except() David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 09/23] fwd: Split rule building from rule adding David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 10/23] fwd_rule: Move rule conflict checking from fwd_rule_add() to caller David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 11/23] fwd: Improve error handling in fwd_rule_add() David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 12/23] conf: Don't be strict about exclusivity of forwarding mode David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:02 ` [PATCH v2 13/23] conf: Rework stepping through chunks of port specifiers David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 14/23] conf: Rework checking for garbage after a range David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` David Gibson [this message]
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 16/23] conf: Move "all" handling to port specifier David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 17/23] conf: Allow user-specified auto-scanned port forwarding ranges David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 18/23] conf: Move SO_BINDTODEVICE workaround to conf_ports() David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 19/23] conf: Don't pass raw commandline argument to conf_ports_spec() David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 20/23] fwd, conf: Add capabilities bits to each forwarding table David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 21/23] conf, fwd: Stricter rule checking in fwd_rule_add() David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 22/23] fwd_rule: Move ephemeral port probing to fwd_rule.c David Gibson
2026-04-10  1:03 ` [PATCH v2 23/23] fwd, conf: Move rule parsing code to fwd_rule.[ch] David Gibson

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